Research On The Semantic Structures Of The Compound Words In Classic Of Poetry

Research on the semantic structures of the compound words in Classic of Poetry is very beneficial for us to learn the condition of chinese compound words in ancient times and its influence in the history of Chinese words, to find out the rules of the development of chinese compound words. Based on the study made by Mr.Xiangxi, we use for reference the book semantic word formation of chinese compound words by Zhuyan, absorb such theories of cognitive linguistics as Analysis on predicative structure, the Case and Frame, begin from the deep layer of the semantic structure of the compound word, seek and describe the semantic composing rules of the compound words in Classic of Poetry. The paper totally investigates 717 compound words in Classic of Poetry, analysizes their predicative structure one by one, puts them into ten types of semantic structure defined by Zhuyan, and then classifies them, takes their seats to number. As a result, it is found that, the compound words in Classic of Poetry only fit seven types of semantic structure: the type whose theta is made mutual referrence to another element(single-structure, complex-structure), the typewhose predicate is made mutual referrence to another element(complex-structure), the type whose predicate is in front and dominant(single-structure, complex-structure), the type whose theta or predicate is parallel(thing, event); The type whose predicate is made mutual referrence to another element(single-structure) and the type whose predicate is back and dominant(single-structure, complex-structure) do not exist in the compound words in Classic of Poetry. The paper also makes a comparison between the semantic structures of the compound words in Classic of Poetry and ones in Modern Chinese, and generalizes similarities and differences to link the past of chinese to today.Through the comparison, we can draw two conclusions:1)Like the compound words in Modern Chinese, among ones in Classic of Poetry, the type whose theta is made mutual referrence to another element is most productive, the type whose theta or predicate is parallel is more productive, the type whose predicate is in front and dominant is a little more productive, the type whose predicate is made mutual referrence to another element and the type whose predicate is back and dominant are not productive; 2)Single-structure compound words have more complete predominance than complex-structure ones in Classic of Poetry, complex-structure compound words have a little advantage over single-structure ones in Modern Chinese, which is the outstanding reflect and inevitable result of the development of society, the deepening of people's cognitive ability, which also show a great progress from the compound words in Classic of Poetry to ones in Modern Chinese in semantic structure.